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The Biblical View of the Fall of Man in Nathaniel Hawthorne's the Marble

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The Biblical View of the Fall of Man in Nathaniel Hawthorne's the Marble Eastern Illinois University The Keep Masters Theses Student Theses & Publications 1981 The iB blical View of the Fall of Man in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The aM rble Faun Lois Darlene Hanson Eastern Illinois University This research is a product of the graduate program in English at Eastern Illinois University. Find out more about the program. Recommended Citation Hanson, Lois Darlene, "The iB blical View of the Fall of Man in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The aM rble Faun" (1981). Masters Theses. 3001. https://thekeep.eiu.edu/theses/3001 This is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Theses & Publications at The Keep. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of The Keep. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THESIS REPRODUCTION CERTIFICATE TO: Graduate Degree Candidates who have written formal theses. SUBJECT: Permission to reproduce theses. The University Library is receiving a number of requests from other institutions asking permission to reproduce dissertations for inclusion in their library holdings. Although no copyright laws are involved, we feel that professional courtesy demands that permission be obtained from the author before we allow theses to be copied. Please sign one of the following statements: Booth Library of Eastern Illinois University has my permission to lend my thesis to a reputable college or university for the purpose of copying it for inclusion in that institution's library or research holdings. Date Author I respectfully request Booth Library of Eastern Illinois University not allow my thesis be reproduced because �- -�� Date Author m J THE BIBLICAL VIEW OF THE FALL OF MAN• IN NAnIANIEL HAWTHORNE 'S THE MARBLE FAUN !TITLE) BY Lois Darlene Hanson ?- THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF �������English-"' Education-� IN THE GRADUATE SCHOOL, EASTERN ILUNOIS UNIVERSITY CHARLESTON, ILLINOIS 1981 YEAR I HEREBY RECOMMEND THIS THESIS BE ACCEPTED AS FULFILLING THIS PART OF THE GRADUATE DEGREE CITED ABOVE DATE DATE THE BIBLICAL VIEW OF THE FALL OF MAN IN NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE"S THE MARBLE FAUN "The story of the fall of man!" One can easily tell that The Fall is the main topic in The Marble Faun. Hawthorn� in this romance, is asking whether man's fall in the Garden of Eden was for man's betterment or not. He is also asking if sin is our power of regeneration, for with­ out the sin of Adam and Eve there would have been no need for a savior. This theory is known as the Fortunate Fall of Man. Hawthorne �s suggesting within The Marble· Faun that our sin is both original and.-renewable--it is something that we have no control over. We are victims of the past. Donatello's sinful act is put in such a way that it is impossible to decide whether he is responsible for the murder; it is no common crime, but a re-enactment of the original fall. The Marble Faun is an analogy of the Bible. Miriam, of course, represents Eve for she is the first to commit a. sin in the story a.s Eve was in the Garden. Donatello is compared to Adam. He was not the first sinner, but lived in innocence until he met the �oman who induced him to sin. It was with the thought of obtaining a higher lalowledge that Eve partook of the fruit. It is also knowledge that intrigues the characters in The Marble Faun. They are searching for a specific kind of knowledge, na.mely--is evil good? 411.226 Among other analogies of The Fall is that of guilt. Soon after their fall, Adam and Eve knew they were guilty. Miriam and Donatello tried t? cast the feeling behind them but could not. Right after the fall of Adam and Eve came a loss of fellowship with God. Miriam and Donatello experience this loss as well. They no longer pray with ease, and feel that the window of heaven has been closed to them. Because of Adam and Eve's fall, the whole human race fell with them and all mankind became sinners. Miriam, too, realizes that "an individual wrong-doing melts into the great mass of human crime, and makes us--who dreamed only of our own little sin,--makes us guilty of the whole. " Another effect of The Fall was that all nature became cursed. With­ in this story we are shown an Arcadia which represents innocence. But because of sin, man can no longer live in Arcadia, and hence we have Rome. Because of man's sin, death entered into the world. Donatello very painfully finds this out when he is trying to communicate with the ani­ mals as in times past. But he fails. The only animal to appear is a lizard which signifies the coming of death. So what is the cure Hawthorne gives us? He gives three--repentance, love, and the hope of an after-life. But none of these will really work. Donatello only repents to man and not to God, Miriam refuses to repent. Love is used over and over within Hawthorne.' s romances • Miriam no longer lives in isolation and thinks only of herself. She falls in love with Donatello. Hilda comes down from her tower to marry Kenyon. But this does not save them either. The last hope is that of an after-life, But to go to heaven, one needs a Savior, which is lacking throughout the whole story and which is the theme of the Bible from which The Marble Faun is an analogy. THE BIBLICAL VIEW OF THE FALL OF MAN IN NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 'S THE MARBLE FAUN The story of the fall of man! Is it not repeated in our ro­ mance of Monti Beni? And may we follow the analogy yet further? Was that very sin--into which Adam precipitated himself and all his race--was it destined means by which, over a long pathway of toil and sorrow, we are to obtain a higher, brifhter, and more profound happiness, than our low birthright gave? The story of the Fall of Man must have been important to Nathaniel Hawthorne, for most of his romances and short stories have this theme within them . He uses it as his main topic in The Marble Faun. Hawthorne, in this romance, is asking whether man ' s fall in the Garden of Eden was for man's betterment or not. He is also asking if sin is our power of regeneration, for without the sin of Adam and Eve, Jesus Christ would· not have had to die, and then there would have been no need for a savior. This particular theory that has caught Hawthorne's attention is known as the Fortunate Fall of Man. The idea of the Fortunate Fall has to do with "loss of innocence, initiation into the complexities of experience in a world of ambigously good and evil, experience of guilt so obscurely ·related to specific acts 2 as to seem more 'original' and necessary than avoidable." Eden had never been far in ·the background, whether Hawthorne was writing of the decayed garden in The House of the Seven Gables, or "of the attempts of iref'orniers to urido the fall in a utopian community"?: found 2 within The Blithedale Romance . One may also find the analogy of the Garden of Eden in "Rappaccini 's Daughter" being used as the major plot. Many of Hawthorne's short stories that are thought of as stories of initiation also have to do with the Fall of Man . Robin, in the story "My Kinsman, Major Molineux," has just come from the country , where he has experienced a life of inno cence . He goes to the city to find his kinsman and encounters sin. This may be Hawthorne 's only story in which a fall is presented as being carefully fortunate . Some of his other stories, such as "Young Goodman Brown" and "Rappiccini 's Daughter," find The Fall not so fortunate . Young Goodman Brown , as if in a dream with the devil , finds that evil is universal , even in the best of peo ple. This stuns him so much that he loses all of his fa ith, even in that which is good . He becomes lost and remains so because he cannot accept reality . Giovanni first thinks of Beatrice as an angel , then as a fiend , but never 4 as a human being. Giovanni , like Young Goo dman Brown , ca nnot accept the fact that all of us , no matter how great or small , have some sin within us . The story , "Roger Malvin's Burial ," hel ps us to understand The Marble Faun. Hawthorne has concealed Reuben's guilt to the extent that it ap- pears a general hu man condition which he has no control over rather than an act he might have avoided. Therefore , Hawthorne is trying to convey that our sin is both original and renewable . We are as the Pyncheons , part victims of the pa st, yet in the present we sin . This is the way Hawthor ne ha ndles the plot of The Marble Faun . Donatello 's sinful act is put in such a way that it is just as impossible to decide whether he is responsible for the murder as it is to decide if Reuben is responsi- ble for leaving Roger Malvin to die. Donatello 's murder is no common J crime, but a re-enactment of the original fall. Hyatt Waggoner states that the idea of the Fortunate Fall came about when Christians were contemplating the story of the old and new covenants and felt a need to express their gratitude to God for the way He has made good out of evil.
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